Andrew Bell’s Market Wrap: Strong Numbers Surfacing

Issue 26 | Thursday, November 19th 2020 | Strong Numbers Surfacing

Hi, Andrew Bell here and coming to you from a busy Gold Coast. We really are now deeply into the frantic final weeks of the year. The stage does seem to be set for a very robust Christmas / New Year real estate season.

Our auctions last week were again phenomenal. There were 16 properties submitted and 4 were sold prior to auction. Of the remaining 12 properties, we had 64 registered bidders and my goodness wasn’t bidding robust?! A healthy contingent of interstate buyers added to the pool. On the day we sold 9 properties, and the standout sale of the day was a property that sold along The Esplanade of Surfers Paradise with an outstanding view of the ocean for 13.5% over reserve. Our highest priced property topped out with a $7 million bid and negotiations are closing in on that at present.

The Queensland election is now out of the road, our Queensland borders are opening more and more, Melbourne is coming out of lockdown, and we anticipate they will be free to travel to Queensland from December onwards. Pleasingly, Queensland also continues to record better economic activity than our fellow states. In fact, in the recent Queensland COVID-19 Fiscal and Economic Review they made some strong forecasts. Queensland Gross State Product will grow by 3.75 percent in the calendar year 2021, mining looks strong, and tourism seems to be well positioned. In fact, whilst Victoria suffered a 91 percent drop in domestic tourism and New South Wales a 38 percent drop, Queensland only dropped 9 percent. A pretty strong basis to start 2021 on.

Looking at real estate we see CoreLogic just released their latest data on national property values which shows our biggest state, New South Wales (Sydney), saw property values fall by 0.6 percent, Melbourne alone fell by 2.2 percent, yet, pleasingly, Brisbane rose by 0.9%. This was for the three months to October 2020 and unfortunately there are no official figures for the Gold Coast.

As we all know, the real estate market has been insulated thanks to a wide range of monetary and fiscal policy, but the big question is what is going to happen when all that support runs out?! Most of it is due to finish by March 2021. It will of course likely put some downward pressure on prices, but it will be different right throughout the country. It is quite probable that the trend we see at present of many people moving from the big southern states to Queensland will continue not only because of the view that we are a safer state to live in, but because we have brighter economic prospects.

I am very fortunate to be a member of the Future Gold Coast Executive team which has been designed to ensure we capitalise on all the unique opportunities that the Gold Coast has before it. It has been wonderful to see how resilient so many of our industry groups and their members have been, which I guess is just a further example of the entrepreneurial attitude of Gold Coasters. Many businesses are faring well and indeed are expanding. I noted that the Star Casino, for example, have just over 100 positions that they have not been able to fill. Who would have thought?! Our airport is also coming back to life with an increasing number of flights and a huge amount of additional flights planned to start up in early December. Our research industry has been remarkable and just last week Queensland University advised they are moving rapidly to produce a vaccine for COVID-19.

I am not suggesting for a moment that we also won’t be affected by any economic downturn, but I am strongly of the view that whilst in the past we have been one of the worst hit in a downturn, stayed down the longest, and went down the most, this time we will actually turn out to be the best property market in Australia over the next couple of years. No doubt this year’s holiday season through December and January will be one of the most remarkable periods of time in the Gold Coast property market. We are already listing some outstanding properties to be part of The Event 2021 program, and so matching the real estate buying opportunities with this larger than usual group of buyers who will be here over December and January makes for a most unique market that anyone considering selling should capitalise on.

Until I am with you in a fortnights time, please remember we truly do live in one of the great democracies of the world where we can hold elections without controversy or groups staring down one another depending on who you vote for. I never cease to be appreciative to live in this most amazing country.

It truly is so wonderful to see the great results we are achieving for our sellers in the marketplace at present. I know this doesn’t last forever, and there is the old saying, ‘make hay while the sun shines’, the sun is certainly shining strongly at present and on that note, I will finish up for this week with our brief insight to The Event 2021. I’ll be with you in a fortnight’s time.

Warm Regards,

Andrew Bell, OAM
Chief Executive Officer
The Ray White Surfers Paradise Group

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